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Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) CO2 capture technology can be used to recover energy from municipal solid waste (MSW). In this study, techno-economic analysis of CLC of waste paper, PVC and their blends for electricity and heat generation was carried out. The process includes the chemical looping combustion section, carbon capture section and lastly, electricity generation section, and this was simulated using Chemcad software. Four scenarios were evaluated; IG-CLC (In-situ Gasification Chemical Looping Combustion) with electricity production only, and with combined heat and power (CHP), Chemical Looping Oxygen Uncoupling (CLOU) with electricity production and with combined heat and power (CHP). Based on a net capacity of 150 MW, the effect of waste paper, PVC and its blends on its net efficiency and LCOE was investigated for all four scenarios.

Learning a second language is challenging, but mastering pronunciation is even more difficult. Researchers continuously seek new ways to improve students’ English abilities, such as listening and speaking, while ignoring the importance of pronunciation. After conducting a literature review, this article investigates the impact of corpora and two instructional methods on improving students’ pronunciation. The paper addresses how to teach pronunciation effectively in the context of English as a second language. According to the review, corpus resources, critical listening, and shadowing can all be used independently to enhance students’ proficiency in second language learning. Hence, an innovative Corpus-based Critical Listening and Shadowing model has been devised as an aid in the teaching of pronunciation by providing more specific suggestions for teachers and students, with the expectation that students will perform better once they have been taught pronunciation using the methodology. The current study’s findings have pedagogical and methodological implications for pronunciation teaching, learning and research. The implications and future directions of the innovative Corpus-based Critical Listening and Shadowing model are also discussed.

The White Paper offers an academic perspective to the discussion on the Data Governance Act proposal (“DGA proposal”), as adopted by the European Commission in November 2020. It contains a legal analysis of the DGA proposal and includes recommendations to amend its shortcomings. The White Paper aims to cover the full spectrum of the DGA proposal and therefore offers an in-depth analysis of its main provisions. In conclusion, the authors identify general patterns at work with the DGA proposal, namely, first, the (new) regulation of data as an object and, even more so, as an object of rights. This approach, the authors find, may contribute to exacerbate the risk of contradictions of the DGA proposal with the GDPR on the level of principles. Second, it discusses the relationship of the DGA proposal vis-a-vis the (regulation of) European data spaces and more generally its place in the two-pillars approach of the EC, between horizontal (sector-agnostic) and sectoral regulation of data. Finally, the DGA proposal is identified as a cornerstone of the new EU ‘digital sovereignty’ policy.

The Swedish climate policy framework requires national GHG emissions to reach net zero by 2045 and become negative thereafter. Bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS) has been identified as a possible main contributor to reach these targets by providing negative emissions – both to offset residual emissions in “hard-to-abate” sectors and to achieve net negative emissions. The pulp and paper industry is the single largest consumer of biomass in Sweden with many large point sources of biogenic CO2 emissions which could potentially be captured. This work investigates the biomass supply required for large scale implementation of BECCS in the pulp and paper industry. Regional biomass supply possibilities are evaluated by choosing four pulp and paper mills located in different parts of Sweden. The results show that regional biomass supply can limit the possibilities for BECCS implementation in regions with high competition for biomass. In regions with low competition and high availability of biomass regional biomass supply can potentially assist CCS implementation on biogenic sources. It is concluded that for a densely populated and industrialized region with high use of logging residues in the heating sector, in this work represented by southern Sweden where two of the studied mills are located, the possibility to increase regional supply of logging residues to fuel the capture process while maintaining mill production output, is limited due to competition for the same assortment of biomass from the energy sector (combined heat and power in district heating systems).

The present paper was prepared and submitted as part of the European Commission's public consultation to give stakeholders the opportunity to express their views on the questions raised and policy options proposed in the White Paper on Artificial Intelligence.

Using new transaction-level data for non-financial commercial paper (CP) in the U.S., we show that companies systematically reduce their outstanding short-term debt on quarterly and annual disclosure dates. Constraints on CP lending supply cannot explain this pattern. Instead, firms prefer repaying short-term debt over disclosing high cash holdings to signal that their cash is readily available and not trapped in foreign subsidiaries. Consistent with this interpretation, we show that firms with higher cash holdings, more sales in regions with tight capital controls, or with higher debt-equity ratios compared to industry peers reduce their short-term debt more aggressively at disclosure dates.

The pulping industry generates vast amounts of bark residues and wastewater treatment sludges, which are combined and stored for varying periods in stacks, often in the open air, prior to utilization for energy via combustion. In order to optimize the storage strategy, the effects of incorporating sludge into bark on heating value and storage-related environmental impacts were investigated in laboratory and outdoor studies. Biological degradation activity was found to be higher in treatments containing 25% sludge (B75S25) and 50% sludge (B50S50) on a fresh mass basis, in comparison with pure bark (B100). Mean monthly dry mass loss was 2.1% (B100), 3.3% (B75S25), and 3.7% (B50S50) in the laboratory and 2.7%, 4.2%, and 4.8%, respectively, outdoors. Sludge addition was found to maintain degradation activity at low temperatures (+ 3°C). Co-storage of sludge and bark led to loss of energy, mainly due to increased loss of biomass and increased moisture content. Overall, biomass moisture content governed the heating value. Cumulative methane emissions over the storage period were higher from the sludge-containing treatments than from pure bark, but emissions of nitrogen-containing gases (N2O and NH3) were negligible throughout. Sludge addition roughly halved the cumulative chemical oxygen demand (COD) of leachate and minimized its concentration of phosphate-P. However, larger amounts of inorganic elements were released to the percolating water from the sludge-containing treatments. Overall, these results indicate that finding alternative uses for the sludge fraction would be beneficial.

This paper is intended to be a very brief snapshot describing the discussion surrounding demand and supply and the NDIS. We contend that the use of descriptions of activities that are normally used to describe market activities represents a threat to outcomes of the Scheme because it misrepresents the relationship between consumers, suppliers and the NDIS. This situation in turn drives funding rationing policy suggesting that suppliers will respond to economic signals in the interest of consumers while suggesting that those consumers have economic power that they do not have—when the NDIA actually sets the decision framework. It is clear that the NDIA funds suppliers to provide supports and services to consumers who need those supports in order to live their lives and that the usual factors considered in markets economics, such as demand, supply and preference, do not apply. Additionally, in circumstances where the expectation is that they will apply, there is great risk that consumers will bear the brunt of negative outcomes, including that of not receiving services and supports.